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<title>Man Enough by pusa_is_me (kimpotato)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25725757">Man Enough</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimpotato/pseuds/pusa_is_me'>pusa_is_me (kimpotato)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:36:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>976</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25725757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimpotato/pseuds/pusa_is_me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>So he belongs to one of the richest and most influential families in the state, and she was raised in an orphanage. Who cares?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hyuuga Neji/Tenten</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Man Enough</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Song inspired by Schematic's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6gTbRs57y724r1hP3GWghm?si=CRqOWZtnQbi8OJ9N0N1BxA">Are You Man Enough?</a></p><p>This is part of a series I deleted from an old site. Honestly, I don't even remember what year I wrote this &gt;_&lt;</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>1.</p><p>“Marry me now and I’ll never let you go.”</p><p>Almost choking on her soda, Tenten whips her head to stare incredulously at her companion. They are squished side by side inside a small cab, with Lee sitting up front and Hinata to her left.</p><p>“The hell?” she asks, blinking once, twice, as pale gray eyes stare back at her.</p><p>“You know I don’t like repeating myself, Tenten,” comes Neji’s response, and Tenten feels the urge to sock him in the mouth for being so incredibly haughty even as his face betrays no emotion.</p><p>It takes her exactly four seconds (not that she is counting, of course she is not) to recover and retort, “You said something weird and impossible and <em>stupid</em> that I obviously heard you <em> wrong</em>, so I think we can make an exception to the rule just this once.”</p><p>“Neji said he wants to marry you, my youthful flower!” Lee suddenly booms from the passenger seat. Tenten shoots him a glare before turning to Hinata, only to find the timid girl nodding shyly at her.</p><p>Snapping her head back to her Best Friend #2 (because Lee holds the title for BFF #1, no matter how chagrined Neji is about it, not that he would say it out loud, no), she blurts out, “But you haven’t even asked me out on a date yet!”</p><p>Neji raises an eyebrow. “I’ve been taking you out on dates since we’re thirteen.”</p><p>Tenten blinks again, then grimaces at sudden realization. “Please don’t tell me all those study sessions were supposed to be dates. And the only reason I ever went to the prom with you was because nobody else asked me!”</p><p>If Tenten thinks Neji will be insulted with her assumption that he had been her pity date (or vice versa), she is gravely mistaken. </p><p>“And why do you think that happened?” </p><p>Another light bulb moment, compounded by Lee’s hearty laugh and Hinata’s soft chuckle.</p><p>“You scared all the other boys away!” Tenten growls, pointing an accusing finger at Neji. She receives a smirk in response. “No wonder Shikamaru wouldn’t talk to me anymore! What the hell did you do?!”</p><p>“I merely weeded out unnecessary competition,” is Neji's smug answer, which leads Lee to laugh some more and Hinata to cover her face in embarrassment.</p><p>“You’re terrible!” Tenten shrieks, right hand balling into a fist aimed to punch. </p><p>“No,” Neji replies, catching her fist in midflight and closing his palms around it. “I am merely a man in love.”</p><p>Tenten blinks some more. “That’s disgusting and horribly cheesy, even for Lee’s standards,” she groans, unsure why there are suddenly bunnies and kittens somersaulting in her stomach. One <em> real </em>smile from Neji and fluffy puppies join the pile.</p><p>“So,” Neji repeats, gently this time, adding an inflection at the end, as if suddenly unsure. “Marry me now and I’ll never let you go?”</p><p> </p><p>2.</p><p>“Well that couldn’t have gotten any worse,” she sighs, rubbing the back of her left shoulder absentmindedly. “At least they didn’t flat out tell me I’m ugly or something.”</p><p>They exit the restaurant hand in hand, the memory of the <em> very </em> awkward dinner with Neji’s family still fresh in Tenten’s mind. Suddenly she feels Neji wrap an arm around her hips, pulling her closer to him. She chuckles at his inability to voice out words of comfort, but appreciates his unspoken reassurance all the same. </p><p>“Oh don’t worry about it,” she murmurs, tilting her head so that her hair brushes his cheek. “Hinata did warn me that your family is quite, err, traditional, and might not like the idea of you marrying a <em> commoner</em>.” </p><p>She chuckles at her own joke. So Neji belongs to one of the richest and most influential families in the state, and she was raised in an orphanage. Who cares?</p><p>And then, after musing for a bit, “Are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean, it’s not too late to back out, you know. We haven’t exactly set a date yet and it’s not like we’ve made it public so . . .”</p><p>Neji’s arm around her tightens, and Tenten glances up to find him looking at her not with amusement, not even irritation. No, Neji Hyuuga, who had a reputation of scaring <em> both </em>students and teachers during their high school and college years, is looking at her in a way that tells her, silently, that he loves her, his traditional family and everyone else be damned.</p><p>Tenten grins. “That’s a yes, I guess?”</p><p> </p><p>3.</p><p>“Last chance to back out,” she whispers to Neji, as Lee, the closest she has to a family, gives her hand to the waiting groom, but not before giving Neji a thumbs-up (and a silent promise to beat his ass if he makes Tenten cry).</p><p>Neji raises an eyebrow, then whispers back, “You already said ‘yes’ to me in that taxi cab. We had witnesses. <em> You </em> can’t back out of this now.”</p><p>Tenten smothers down a guffaw, because it would not do to appear so unlady-like in front of three hundred guests, two-thirds of them people she does not even know. When she had accepted Neji’s proposal, she didn’t expect the Hyuuga clan—all of them—would appear in their ceremony.</p><p>“Well, if you’re sure then,” she settles for a chuckle, linking her arm with his. </p><p>“Never been surer my entire life.” And there is so much affection in Neji’s voice that Tenten instinctively turns to look at him, only to find smiling gray eyes meet her brown ones in a promise of devotion and love.</p><p>She flashes him a wide smile, bright and trusting and <em> oh so in love. </em></p><p>Neji returns the smile, less wide, but with the same amount of affection. And then, holding her hand, he nods, tilts his head to the minister in front of them, and asks, “Ready?”</p><p> </p><p>3 ½.</p><p>
  <em> (Yes.) </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't write this level of cheese anymore :(</p></blockquote></div></div>
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